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Obama Team Ends Freedom Of Speech At UN
From The Weekly Standard:
The Obama administration has marked its first foray into the UN human rights establishment by backing calls for limits on freedom of expression. The newly-minted American policy was rolled out at the latest session of the UN Human Rights Council, which ended in Geneva on Friday. American diplomats were there for the first time as full Council members and intent on making friends.
President Obama chose to join the Council despite the fact that the Organization of the Islamic Conference holds the balance of power and human rights abusers are among its lead actors, including China, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia. Islamic states quickly interpreted the president’s penchant for "engagement" as meaning fundamental rights were now up for grabs. Few would have predicted, however, that the shift would begin with America’s most treasured freedom.
For more than a decade, a UN resolution on the freedom of expression was shepherded through the Council, and the now defunct Commission on Human Rights which it replaced, by Canada. Over the years, Canada tried mightily to garner consensus on certain minimum standards, but the "reformed" Council changed the distribution of seats on the UN’s lead human rights body. In 2008, against the backdrop of the publication of images of Mohammed in a Danish newspaper, Cuba and various Islamic countries destroyed the consensus and rammed through an amendment which introduced a limit on any speech they claimed was an "abuse . . . [that] constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination."
The Obama administration decided that a revamped
freedom of expression resolution, extracted from Canadian hands, would be an ideal emblem for its new engagement policy. So it cosponsored a resolution on the subject with none other than Egypt–a country characterized by an absence of freedom of expression.
Privately, other Western governments were taken aback and watched the weeks of negotiations with dismay as it became clear that American negotiators wanted consensus at all costs.
There really are no words to describe what an utter disgrace our president is. The U.S. backed a resolution limiting any speech which is deemed “an act of racial or religious discrimination” — which means any speech critical of Islam.
We’re now partnered with the Islamic police state of Egypt in limiting freedom of speech and partnered with all the Marxist regimes in South America against democracy in Honduras. Wow, and we thought Jimmy Carter was a dumbass.
The fact that we would join a “human rights council” composed of tyrants, dictators, and police states is itself an insult.
Barack Obama is the most repugnant man to ever lead our nation. The American people will rue the day they put him in office.
Video: Obama’s Speech To The U.N.
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Obama Official Tells Phony U.N. Panel That U.S. ‘Not Perfect’ On Human Rights
The Obama apology tour is continuing even in the halls of such corrupt organizations as the United Nations.
The U.N. “Human Rights” Council which is made up primarily of countries with the worst human rights records on the planet was treated to an apology for the U.S. for our own human rights failures.
President Bush refused to be part of a farcical panel on human rights with such countries as China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Cameroon.
The Obama administration on the other hand believes we can do more good as a member of the panel. So the 47-member body voted by secret ballot to decide if the U.S. would have the honor of being part of their laughable council.
In the end, the United States received 167 out of 192 votes and was allowed entry into the group.
After the votes were tallied, Obama’s left-wing U.N. ambassador Susan Rice said she understood why we didn’t get more votes. She acknowledged, “We have not been perfect ourselves.”
The idea that the U.S. would grovel and apologize for so-called human rights abuses at the feet of such disgraceful dictatorships as Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and China, is beyond reprehensible — It’s a goddamn disgrace.
This is simply more evidence of what a pathetic, and weak administration we have leading this nation.
Compared to the nations who make up the U.N.’s phony human rights council, we actually are pretty close to perfect.
-Chris Jones
UN “Human Rights” Commission Passes Resolution Shielding Islam From Criticism
The UN “Human Rights” Commission passed a resolution today put forth by Muslim nations intended to shield religion from criticism. Predictably, by “religion” they of course mean Islam.
The so-called UN “human rights” commission is a joke just like the UN itself. Also, for the record Islam is not a religion of peace. All Muslims are not terrorists, but all terrorists are usually Muslim.
The U.S. Is Right Not To Join Cluster Bomb Ban
The United States, China, Russia, Israel, and a few others, are right not to join the 110 countries in signing the treaty to ban cluster munitions from the battlefield.
Cluster Bombs are a potent weapon that the U.S. military should continue to use whenever necessary. Human rights organizations which are of course championing this ban are not taking into account new technologies in cluster munitions.
The biggest complaint by human rights groups is the tendency of cluster bombs to leave unexploded bomblets scattered across a wide area. Years after a conflict has ended these bomblets remain lethal and can detonate at anytime and frequently kill civilians.
This is a legitimate concern and one the U.S. military has already addressed. The U.S. has recently begun using a brand new cluster bomb called the CBU-97 SFW. The SFW stands for “Sensor Fused Weapon” and it contains dozens of “smart” bomblets.
When the bomb is dropped, the outer casing comes apart and releases the sub-munitions (bomblets) across a wide area just like a traditional cluster bomb. The difference with the new SFW is that each bomblet has a sensor inside it that immediately scans the area and hones in on a target and kills it.
However, if the bomblet scans the area and fails to find a target it simply self-destructs in mid-air leaving behind a “clean” battlefield.
A single CBU-97 SFW can kill everything inside in area roughly the size of a football field and leave no unexploded bomblets behind.
This new cluster bomb is only the beginning of the technologies we’ll have in the future, so there is simply no reason to join in any kind of ban on cluster bombs.
-Chris Jones
U.N. Chief Calls Dutch Anti-Koran Film “Un-Islamic”
From Reuters:
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday condemned as “offensively anti-Islamic” a Dutch lawmaker’s film that accuses the Koran of inciting violence.
Ban acknowledged efforts by the government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of the film, which was launched by Islam critic Geert Wilders over the Internet, and appealed for calm to those “understandably offended by it.”
It’s a sad day when the United Nations condemns a movie for being anti-Islamic. Since when are free people not free to be anti-Islamic if they so choose? It’s strange how the world must be walk on egg shells when it comes to Islam. We must be so careful not to offend Muslims.
That’s bullsh*t and it’s one of the worst double standards on earth. I wonder if people would treat Christians as delicately if they chopped people’s heads off anytime they were offended?
Geert Wilders’s movie about the Koran is a very accurate depiction and one that free people everywhere should watch. What radical Muslims don’t seem to realize is that by calling for Wilders death, they are showing the world just how accurate the movie really is.
-Chris Jones
George Clooney named U.N. messenger of peace
From Reuters:
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named actor George Clooney, who has campaigned for refugees in Darfur, as a U.N. “messenger of peace” on Friday to promote the world body’s peacekeeping efforts.
Clooney is the ninth U.N. messenger — people chosen from the fields of art, music, literature and sports who have agreed to help focus attention on the United Nations’ work.
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said Clooney would have a special emphasis on peacekeeping. She said he had been “recognized for focusing public attention on crucial international political and social issues.”
Clooney, who is currently in Sudan, will receive his designation on January 31 at U.N. headquarters.
George Clooney is a left-wing nut with a bad habit of saying ridiculous things, but I do think he deserves some credit for his work on Darfur. He really has stepped up to the plate and raised awareness of the issue and traveled to Sudan a number of times.
Rather than just sitting in Hollywood and making ignorant statements like many of his colleagues, he really is out there doing something, so for that I think recognition by the UN is well deserved.
-Chris Jones
White House Announces “Enduring Relationship” with Iraq
The White House today announced an agreement reached between President Bush and Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki regarding the U.S. presence in Iraq.
This is a gentle way for the President to let the American people know that we have a long-term commitment to Iraq. The President will bring the troops home eventually, but we will have a continuing presence there just like we do in Japan, South Korea, Europe, Kuwait, and elsewhere.Democrats are already acting shocked by this announcement, but I can’t imagine anyone really believing we would sacrifice all the blood and treasure that we have, and not at least get a few military bases out of the deal.
That’s the way it has always worked and the way it should work. We liberated Kuwait, and in return we have permanent bases there. Iraq is extremely important strategically, and it’s a major advantage for the U.S. to have fully functioning military bases there.
It should be funny watching “dingy” Harry Reid stomp his foot and cry about this agreement. I’m sure Code Pink will throw themselves into the middle of the street or impale themselves on the capital steps in response as well. Meanwhile, Republicans and Joe Lieberman will point and laugh at the silly hippies.
-Chris Jones
** Read the full text of the White House statement by clicking the link above
U.N. Calls The Use of Tasers “Torture”
The U.N. Committee Against Torture singled out Tasers at the end of a conference in Geneva, expressing concern that the most popular model caused so much pain that use of it “constituted a form of torture.”
I think the bigger question here is, what doesn’t the U.N. consider torture? They love to throw that word around and label everything “torture.”
An example of true torture is watching American tax dollars continue to fund a corrupt, and ineffective organization like the United Nations.
What’s real torture is watching the U.N. pass resolution after resolution against various countries that they have no intention of actually enforcing. They are a truly impotent organization that would cease to exist without American funding.
The bottom line is that the U.N. needs America, but America doesn’t need the U.N.
-Chris Jones
U.N. To Cut Estimate Of AIDS Epidemic
The United Nations’ top AIDS scientists plan to acknowledge this week that they have long overestimated both the size and the course of the epidemic, which they now believe has been slowing for nearly a decade.
Revised figures in the latest UN Aids annual report released on Monday cut an estimate for total infections to 32.7 million from the 39.5 million cases given in the agency’s 2006 report.
The UN report stated that the number of people in India estimated to be living with HIV/Aids has been more than halved to 2.5 million due to better statistics and evidence gathering.
In Asia, there are now 4.9 million cases, up from 440,000 last year. Indonesia has the fastest growing HIV prevalence on the continent, while the number of infections in Vietnam has more than doubled between 2000 and 2005.
Having millions fewer people with a lethal contagious disease is good news. Some researchers, however, contend that persistent overestimates in the widely quoted U.N. reports have long skewed funding decisions and obscured potential lessons about how to slow the spread of HIV. Critics have also said that U.N. officials overstated the extent of the epidemic to help gather political and financial support for combating AIDS.
Unprotected sex is the main factor behind the spread of the virus, with contaminated drug injecting equipment also playing a key role, the report said.
China Drops Out of Talks on Iran Sanctions
It looks like China is taking a hard line against further sanctions:
China has dealt a blow to Western efforts to increase diplomatic pressure on Iran over its nuclear program by dropping out of a meeting to discuss tougher sanctions against Tehran.
Russia, which like China opposes further U.N. sanctions against Iran, added fuel to the fire by announcing on Friday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog would soon start inspecting and sealing atomic fuel bound for an Iranian reactor.
The West fears Iran wants to develop atomic weapons but Iran denies this. Tehran says it wants only to generate electricity.
Political directors from Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China were due to meet on November 19 to assess reports about Tehran’s nuclear program from the United Nations and from EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
“I think it’s partly related to genuine travel difficulties, but also linked to resistance on the broader question of sanctions from that quarter,” a European diplomatic source said of China’s decision.
It doesn’t make any sense that China and Russia keep urging the Bush Administration to use diplomacy rather than war, but then block our diplomatic efforts at every opportunity.
-Chris Jones
Time To Act On Iran
The International Atomic Energy Agency issued its report on the status of Iran’s nuclear program, and it’s extremely troubling. What the report revealed is that Iran is much farther along in it’s weapons development than most intelligence agencies.
According to the report Iran has already installed 3,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium. That is enough to begin production of highly enriched uranium on an industrial scale. This would allow Iran to produce enough highly enriched uranium to have a nuclear warhead within a year.
The installation of 3,000 fully-functioning centrifuges at Iran’s enrichment plant at Natanz is a “red line” drawn by the US across which Washington had said it would not let Iran pass. Israel has also expressed similar sentiments and is thought to already be ready to strike Iran’s nuclear sites.
It is my belief that Israel will take military action if the U.S. does not. If Mexico was developing nuclear weapons while at the same time threating to wipe us of the map, you can be sure that the United States would take action.
While I do believe we must continue diplomatic talks, I don’t believe they will ultimately be successful. If diplomacy does fail I think one of two things will happen.
The first possibility is that Israel will launch air strikes against Iran and the U.S. will back them up with sea based cruise missiles and stealth aircraft.
The second possibility is that the U.S. will take military action against Iran and Israel will stand down. The purpose of the attack will be to not just delay the Iranian’s nuclear program, but to effectively end it. We would achieve this not with an Iraq-style invasion, but with a combination of air and sea assets.
Whatever happens, I suspect it will be happen within the next 4-6 months or at least before the Bush Administration leaves office. In light of the campaign rhetoric on the Democratic side, it’s not likely that a Democratic President would ever take military action in Iran or anywhere else.
-Chris Jones
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